Tuesday, November 22, 2005

Salmon Teriyaki

In spite of what the title of the blog might imply, I love salmon. One of my students just reminded me about the Salmon Teriyaki dish we made in One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish class, and I was inspired to make it for dinner. It was the first "real" fish dish that I learned to make in college, and it's still one of my favorites. Thanks for a great idea Natalie!
Fish Substitutes: Steelhead trout, arctic char

Mix duck sauce, teriyaki sauce, and ginger (if using) in another baking dish large enough to hold salmon in one layer.

Season salmon with salt and pepper. Place the salmon in the dish with sauce and turn to coat on both sides.

Place salmon in the broiler pan skin side down (reserve the teriyaki sauce). Broil 4 inches away from the flame for 4-6 minutes or until nicely browned. If the thin parts start to burn, cover them with foil.

Turn the oven down to 400F.

Pour the reserved teriyaki sauce over salmon and finish in the oven so that the total cooking time (broiling + baking) is 8 minutes per inch of thickness. To test for doneness, separate the flakes in the thickest part of the fish with a fork and peek inside. Salmon is well-done when a trace of translucency remains in the center.**

* Note on broiling: Only gas broilers work well enough to brown the fish. If you have an electric oven, it's best to preheat it to 425F, flip the salmon onto its skin in the dish with the sauce, and bake for 10 minutes per inch of thickness. It won't brown, but will still be excellent.
** Note on doneness: Salmon tastes best slightly undercooked and it's safe to eat it that way. Feel free to take it off the heat when the center is pretty translucent.
We are going to visit family over Thanksgiving, so I'll be away for a while.
I wish you all a happy and very yummy Thanksgiving!

6 comments:

I kind of started cooking by reading your blog. Now, I remember a long time ago you talked about this little device called "broiler". I fail to see a translation for that in Portuguese and have never seen this product. I wonder if you could tell me what it's like, show me pictures or something, because I would really like my meat to have that beautiful browning.

A broiler is a heating element located in your oven. For most modern ovens (gas and electric) it is on top. Older gas ovens in US have it on the bottom with a separate drawer. To broil something means to set it about 4 inches away from this heating element and let it brown. I find that the broilers in electric ovens don't normally brown well, and the ones in gas ovens work well because they have a real flame there. I am not sure if ovens in Europe have the same broiling feature. From what I hear, it's called "grilling" in the UK.

I think I haven't made myself clear at all. I forgot to mention that my Portuguese isn't from Portugal, but from Brazil. Thus, the situation is different, for in South America ovens never come with a broiler. What I wonder is if there's an independent device that goes by that name and can achieve such a beautiful browning effect.

yes, it's called salamander (broiler that's independent of the oven), but they are very expensive in US. You might want to try to pan sear the salmon in a non-stick skillet (without marinading or saucing), then pour the sauce into the skillet about 1 minutes before salmon is done and let it form a glaze over the fish (turning the fish once and watching it like a hawk to make sure it doesn't burn)